World School>> Holistic Health and Massage Therapy Newsletter>>Foot Baths

Aah, the Bliss!

Body workers understand that a footbath is an exquisitely relaxing prelude to any body treatment—or an amazing treat in and of itself. Footbaths are great for helping ourselves and our clients to relieve aches and pains and for reviving hot, tired, burning feet and a fatigued body. In general, they’re a delicious way to pamper these hard-working and often-neglected parts of us!

Foot baths transcend relaxation. They also help us to detoxify, increase energy, balance emotions, and relieve stress and discomfort. In fact, the benefits of this tradition are so numerous, one might wonder why we don’t take the time to indulge ourselves with this simple luxury every day…?

And speaking of clients, have you considered the potential customer health and satisfaction benefits of serving foot baths before body work or healing sessions? Foot baths cost very little and are thoroughly pampering. They allow your clients to relax before beginning body work and they don't have to worry about how their feet smell to you.

Therapeutic benefits

The footbath has been used as a curative therapy for ages in many parts of the world. In Japan, for example, footbaths have been recommended for cases of insomnia, poor circulation, and winter chills.

The benefits of a spa footbath with sea salts and essential oils are many:

• It helps relieve stress and promotes deep relaxation of tense muscles and joints.
• It helps detoxify the body.
• It stimulates circulation.
• It relieves athlete’s foot, corns, and calluses.
• It draws out impurities in the skin.
• It soothes skin irritation.
• It deodorizes feet.
• It remineralizes the body.
• It stimulates the involuntary muscles of the uterus, intestines, bladder, and other pelvic and abdominal organs.
• It has been known to restore menstruation, if suspended, by increasing blood supply, especially to the uterus and ovaries.
• It warms muscles prior to massage, and it assists the client in entering a state of relaxation that can enhance and deepen the healing experience.
• It cleanses the feet as a prelude to bodywork, presenting feet that are nicer to work with—for both the therapist and the client.
• It gives well-deserved and often long-overdue attention to our feet, which spend so much time cooped up in shoes and socks.
• Finally, a well-kept secret is that a footbath is a wonderful way to relieve headaches.

The science of reflexology tells us that we can address the entire body by way of the feet…which might explain why people around the globe have for millennia experienced a whole range of positive results from the practice of foot bathing.

Bringing the Spa Home

Here are some steps you can take to recreate the spa footbath experience at home.

What You’ll Need

• A soft towel that your foot bath bowl and feet will be placed upon. Ideally, choose a towel large enough that it can serve the dual purpose of drying your feet and protecting your floor from water spillage.
• A tub or bowl in which to soak your feet with room enough for your toes to spread out. A laundry tub works great for most people. Alternately, a large ceramic or hand-blown glass bowl can be beautiful and especially inviting.
• Warm, nonchlorinated filtered water. The largest organ in our bodies, the skin is also tremendously absorptive. Some sources report that we absorb more chlorine in one seven-minute shower than we ingest by consuming six 8-ounce glasses of chlorinated drinking water. Please purchase an effective filter for your drinking water and your shower. We have shower filters available for purchase at the World School and at Asante Day Spa.

Attractive Options
• Therapeutic ingredients for the foot bath and for post-foot bath care (see list below).
• Relaxing background music of choice.
• Soft après bath foot ware—slippers are nice.
• Beverage of choice; preferably something hydrating and soothing.

Therapeutic ingredients

To increase the benefits of your foot bath, add sea salt (Himalayan crystal salt is becoming increasingly well known for its detoxification and mineralizing qualities), baking soda, fragrant herbs (therapeutic herbal teas work great!), or selected therapeutic essential oils to the warm water. You can also float freshly cut flowers (lemon or lime blossoms, jasmine, or other aromatics) for an especially beautiful and natural touch.

Adding therapeutic essential oils catapults the foot bath experience far beyond relaxation and pleasure. To adequately describe their profound benefits would require delving deeply into an extensive body of knowledge and research. Here, we offer just three tidbits to whet your appetite:

• Lavender oil has been used for centuries to calm the body and soothe the spirit. It is also considered to have anti-fungal properties as does citrus (lime, grapefruit, and lemon).
• Peppermint oil has been traditionally used to stimulate and energize. It has also long been employed as a drink to counteract nausea and acid indigestion and as an inhalant and rub (applied to the temples) in response to headaches.
• Ylang-ylang (a sweet-smelling tropical flower) has reportedly been used to soothe the emotions, functioning as an antidepressant.

How to prepare

First, place a towel on the floor. This serves the dual purpose of protecting the floor and providing something with which to dry the feet when the footbath has been completed.

Second, heat nonchlorinated filtered water. The temperature should be warmer than the skin, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable…the intention here is soothing and relaxing comfort. (Alternately, during warm weather, you can use cooler water to refresh and revive tired, hot feet and body.)

Third, place the footbath tub or bowl on the towel and fill it with enough water to cover your feet while allowing room for the water to rise when both feet have been immersed.

Fourth and finally, add from among the many nurturing ingredients available for healing and pleasure from the list below.

Enjoying the footbath

While sitting in a chair, immerse your feet in the warm water, breathe slowly, and if desired, meditate. Notice every soothing sensation of the water and allow it's health enhancing ingredients to penetrate deeply into your body through the pathways of your feet and skin.

You (or someone else!) can massage your feet while you soak them in the foot bath, or you can simply sit back and absorb its nurturing luxury. For a real treat, try varying the texture of the foot bath experience by covering the bottom of the bowl with smooth river stones, which can be used to massage and stretch tired foot muscles while you enjoy the warmth of the water.

Savor the foot bath as long as you like. Most people finish up when the water begins to cool below the level of enjoyable warmth. Dry your feet with the towel and sit quietly for a few minutes before you resume your day. If possible, see how long you can maintain some focus of intention upon your body's sensations. You might also want to enhance the moisturizing benefits of the foot bath by applying some vitamin E oil.


A Reminder…

In closing, we want to remind you that one of the things we can all do as we invest in our well-being and of those we serve is to recall that our bodies are truly unique and sacred gifts. Like all living things upon the Earth, we are made from Nature and made of Her bounteous elements. To call this soothing thought to mind, all you need to do is to draw some warm water into an appropriate vessel, add one or more complementary ingredients, dip your feet into luxury, and relax into the lap of the divine.